Screen Australia's Report Highlights High-End Craft, But Low Volume Labor Risk

Damien Johnson
5 days ago
3 min read

A Premium Production Boom Fueled by Premium Cost-Per-Hour

Screen Australia’s latest Drama Report for 2024/25 delivers headline-grabbing numbers: a record $2.7 billion (AUD) spent on drama production, marking a massive 43% increase year-on-year. For any advocate of cinematic labor and infrastructure, this influx of capital is superficially encouraging. However, a deeper look through the lens of craft over commerce reveals a more nuanced, and at times challenging, story. The leap is not a simple volume expansion across the board, but a sharp spike in premium production value—a necessary but concentrated demand for high-end technical skills.

The growth is overwhelmingly driven by two pillars: the international shoot surge (a $678 million uplift) and a clear, industry-wide move toward higher-budget, fewer-title local production. This focus on premium quality is demonstrated by the 44% increase in cost-per-hour for Subscription TV and SVOD content (now averaging $5.1 million per hour), indicating that the demand for world-class cinematography, sound design, and production values has never been higher.

The most definitive proof of a maturing technical ecosystem lies in the Post, Digital, and Visual Effects (PDV) sector. The report shows PDV expenditure on both Australian and international projects surged 33% to $762 million.

This is the purest metric of technical craft at scale. This money is invested directly into highly specialized labor: the VFX artists who meticulously render the impossible, the sound mixers and editors who balance a complex audio track for various international platforms, and the colorists who perfect the final grade. The massive PDV spend confirms that Australia is succeeding not just as a location for principal photography, but as a global hub for technical execution and high-end finish. The increased Location Offset is directly credited with sustaining this ecosystem, ensuring that the crews stay working and that investment continues to flow into training and capability building—the essential foundation of people over product.

The Double-Edged Ledger: Volume and the Risk to the Pipeline

While local Australian drama expenditure saw a 14% increase ($1.1 billion total), the total volume of Australian titles declined sharply from 89 to 71. This is the critical data point for the long-term health of the labor pipeline.

Positive: The local spend increase was fueled by a handful of high-budget theatrical features (over $50M) and premium SVOD titles. This means when local stories do get financed, they are being executed at a much higher technical standard, creating better working opportunities for experienced below-the-line crew.
Challenge: A drop of 18 titles means fewer overall jobs and, crucially, fewer opportunities for new entrants—the gaffers’ assistants, the entry-level script supervisors, and the emerging sound recorders—to gain their first set of credits. For a robust industry to sustain itself, volume is just as necessary as value to ensure a constant flow of trained people into the system. Furthermore, the 14% decline in spend on FTA TV reflects a continuing erosion of a key training ground for many veteran crew members.

The record international spend, particularly the $1.0 billion from 20 international features, is a direct result of the Federal Government's decision to permanently increase the Location Offset (from 16.5% to 30%). This policy move provided the necessary commercial clarity for major studios to commit massive budgets, such as the projects that boosted Queensland's expenditure to a top-ranking 34% share.

This demonstrates a clear line of cause and effect: smart policy drives commerce, which then provides the economic foundation necessary to deepen craft and employment. The international projects (like the Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) not only inject capital but also mandate the use of Australian labor and infrastructure, creating invaluable cross-pollination of technical standards and skills. This report ultimately serves as a powerful argument for the continued necessity of targeted government support to ensure that the production boom benefits the entire interconnected ecosystem of Australian screen workers.

You can read the full report here: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/reports-and-key-issues/reports-and-discussion-papers/drama-report-2024-25